Costa Rica pulled off the biggest shock of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil thus far, with a 3-1 win over the mighty Uruguay on Saturday. You add that to Italy’s 2-1 win against England, and it leaves Group D wide open. Uruguay, two-times world champions, came into the game as overwhelming favourites in the race for progression to the knockout stages along with either Italy or England. However, Frazier Campbell-inspired Costa Rica had other ideas as they notched up only their third win at the World Cup finals. For Uruguay, they will be required to put in a big performance in their next match against England on Saturday or they are out. For the neutrals, one can only be glad for Costa Rica as they started their World Cup by writing history on the pages of world football in one of the strongest groups. The North Americans may not be favourites to progress from the group, which has three former world champions, but they could turn out to be party spoilers. Teams in such situation tend to be very dangerous opponents since they have little to lose and much to gain when playing against any type of opposition, so Italy will have to be careful in the top of the table clash on Sunday. The England vs Uruguay clash will definitely be a mini-final for both teams as they know whoever loses will be all but out of the competition. England were the better team against Italy but still lost and they will be under the more pressure in the next game—failure at the first hurdle and their media will simply ‘murder’ them. Closer to home, in Group C, Ivory Coast came from behind to beat Japan 2-1, a result that means so much not only to the Ivorians but Africa as a whole. After this win, the Elephants can begin to dream of progressing to the next round but only before they get at least three points from the next two games against Columbia and Greece.
